Thing 27 - Twitter

This just isn't going away.  I keep trying to like Twitter.  People are evidently using it.  Maybe it works better if one has a Droid or an iPhone so that one can periodically check in to see what's going on.  I've tried following restaurants (to try new food or get a deal) - Didn't work.  No one I know actually uses Twitter, including my 20-something son & daughter-in-law.  I just signed up to follow a few library people - we'll see how that goes.  Plus, I added a Twitter gadget to my iGoogle so if I remember to sign in to iGoogle I may see my Twitter gadget and click on it.  I'm not holding out hope.

Thing 26

I skipped this one.  I was on the 23 Things Ning for the first 23.  Didn't do much there and since this set of 23 has been going on awhile, I believe I'll pass on this.  I tried it - it's not me.  End of story with Ning.

Thing 24

Well, I spent about 45 minutes getting back up to speed with Blogspot (needed to remember my login and password), adjusted my profile, fooled around redesigning my avatar, posted a photo to both my blog and my Twitter account.  It's amazing how much one forgets as one does not use something.  I'm going to try to make it through a lot of the Next 23 Things before the end of the year.  We'll see how I do.

Playing with Snapshot (from Thing 25

Well, this Thing is cool! I learned how to make previews show up when one mouses over the web address embedded in a site. See what happens when you mouse over the American Library Associations web address below:

http://www.ala.org/

Cool, huh?

Thing 31 - (And you've GOT to be kidding) - More Twitter

I learned about Twitter in the first 23 Things. I know that many people are on Twitter, and that they enjoy it. I understand that some people use it as a marketing tool, others use it as a way to keep in touch with friends, and still others use it as a platform to announce and promote their views. Just from watching television anyone would realize that since we first looked at Twitter, it has become an even bigger player in the social networking sphere.

I, however, do not like it. It is just one more electronic means of communication. And I am barely keeping up with emails and facebook. Promote it all you want with its mashups, youtubes, voice postings, whatever. It's still just another form of electronic communication.

Google Tools - Thing 29

Before starting this thing, I had already used Book search, Google Earth, Scholar, Toolbar, Calendar, Labs, Translate, & iGoogle. I use regularly Google Images, Maps, News, Blogger, Docs, Gmail, Reader, YouTube. So, for purposes of this exercise, I investigated Goog411, Knol, & Sketchup.

I heard about Goog411 from a coworker who uses it all the time. Beyond reading about it, though, I'd like to try it from my cell phone some day when I'm out and about and have need of a phone number. It looks simple and quite useful.

Knol looks like a poor man's Wikipedia. It wasn't too interesting and could be dangerous if someone relied on it for accurate information. I looked at a section about military veterans' disability benefits. When I checked out the author, his single biographical note said that he is a veteran. The note I read as I began my investigation of Knol said that the author controls the level of collaboration he or she wants with the larger community. So, whether or not they are an expert in the field, if they believe themselves to be expert and don't want others adding to their Knol, the potential for misinformation here is enormous.

I read about Google Sketchup in a do-it-yourself magazine. The magazine recommended it. And in looking at it I can see why. It looks simple to use (I watched a couple of the instructional videos) and when I have a computer I can download it onto, I'm going to give it more of a try.

I think librarians, especially, need to check in on Google labs regularly. They are constantly developing new and interesting things. Some are duds; but some fill a definite need. As part of our computer classes we suggest to students that they check Google labs every now and then to see what's new.

Thing 26 - More Ning

I joined Ning in the first round of the 23 Things. At that time I joined, or tried to join, a couple of groups. One group never got off the ground; and I lost interest in Ning after the 23 Things were finished, so I never checked in on any conversations with other groups.

For this round, I added the Ning logo to my blog. I tried updating my profile, but not that many changes have taken place that my profile really needed updating. I commented on someone else's comment about the 23 Things. But not much of interest.

Ning could prove to be useful when distant people need to communicate about an issue. But truthfully, I find telephone and face to face conferences save time.

Ning might be useful to discuss philosophical questions.